'We found Greater Manchester Police to be institutionally racist two years ago -we stand by that today'
| Published date | 30 April 2023 |
Less than a month after Baroness Casey found the Metropolitan Police to be exactly that, GMP’s leader told LBC Radio he didn’t deem any UK police force to be institutionally racist -and said the term had been ‘politicised in some circles.’
As his comments were accused of ‘invalidating’ the experience of ethnically diverse communities, campaigners say Mr Watson is wrong to make such a judgement.
GMP figures show black people are more than twice as likely to be stopped and searched by the force, and nearly three times more likely to be tasered. And just last month, several officers were sacked after shocking details emerged over a 'racist' Whatsapp group.
Fi ndings from GMP's Achieving Race Equality report in 2021 led the chair of Greater Manchester's Race Equality Panel to conclude the force was institutionally racist. Two years on, she and other insiders claim little progress has been made.
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Elizabeth Cameron says she has lost friendships and relationships by dedicating the last few years as chair of Greater Manchester’s Race Equality Panel, which was established by the mayor Andy Burnham in 2020, to highlight inequalities facing ethnic minority communities.
The comments made by Chief Constable Stephen Watson last week, she claims, “erased” her work on the panel -made up of 24 members from a diverse range of backgrounds. She said ‘nothing else’ had been on her mind, and is now considering her future on the panel.
Speaking during a call-in on Nick Ferrari's Breakfast show, Mr Watson said he believed it is possible that a police force could be institutionally racist, but didn't believe the term applied to any of the forces in the UK.
"It's certainly not a term that I would accept in respect of Greater Manchester Police because my sense of course is that institutionally we are against these behaviours, institutionally our values are designed to eradicate these behaviours and institutionally, if somebody is found guilty of behaving in these ways, we root them out boot them out," he said.
"I think it's universally recognised – we have people in our ranks who ought not to be there who conduct themselves in a racist, homophobic -on and on goes the list. I just think we draw the distinction between those who let the side down and the mass."
Days before his radio appearance, a number of officers were sacked following an internal investigation into a ‘racist’ police Whatsapp group.
A tribunal heard that at least six male police officers were members of the group titled ‘The Dispensables’ and subtitled ‘the gods of north Manchester who risk their lives every day to f jobs off.”
Racist and homophobic language was used in the group which was said to have been dominated by another officer, PC Aaron Jones, who was banned from policing last year.
PC Jones was said to have dismissed troubl emakers at Eid celebrations in Manchester's Curry Mile, in August 2018, as 'smelly P cs' in a separate chat with his girlfriend, PC Rebekah Kelly.
Another officer, PC Ashley Feest, was barred from returning to police work after sharing a ‘racist’ meme about slavery. The disciplinary panel decided not to sack PC Graham Atkinson, who was filmed mocking a Lithuanian man appearing to speak a ‘made up language.’
In a strongly worded statement following their dismissal, Head of GMP’s Professional Standards Branch, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Allen said: “The shameful behaviour of these officers risks undermining the noble work of all in GMP who serve our diverse communities with kindness. This is why I have no hesitation in demonstrating, very publicly, the hard line that will be taken when such repugnant behaviour is detected.”
Ms Cameron claims the most recent example isn't just a case of a 'few bad apples,' but how racism is pervading the force -and how current procedures and cultures allow these types of attitudes and behaviours to exist. She is firm in her belief that the force IS institutionally racist.
She made the same conclusion in 2021, when GMP's Achieving Race Equality Report revealed that Black people were 5.7 times more likely to have a taser used against them than white people, 5.3 times more likely to be stopped and searched, and four times more likely to have force used against them.
Ms Cameron suggested that the disproportionate use of police powers 'goes beyond unconscious bias and into the realms of racism.'
In response to the report back in 2021, Mr Watson denied that the force was institutionally racist, but admitted that it was likely that it could employ 'someone who behaves in a racist way' and that he would 'root and boot' them out of the force.
According to new GMP figures, the situation has improved since 2021. But speaking to the M.E.N this week, Ms Cameron claimed the force's efforts hadn't gone far enough to dismantle the procedures in place that allow this type of disproportionately to exist.
“I’ve seen so many videos of people being treated like animals by police and Mr Watson is quite aware that I have that footage,” she said. "He will take the view that there is the individual bad apple and he will say we will root them out and boot them out and I say good luck to you, because it’s your systems that allow this to happen.
“I have experienced it, I hear it, I see videos of it. I know the figures and if it’s still happening, it’s got to be in the system and I do believe these systems are still in place in GMP today.
"If they won't admit that exists then my goodness what are all these plans about What are we getting into a room to discuss race equality for We'll be achieving race equality when GMP admit where the situation is right now."
When the M.E.N approached GMP for a comment, the Chief Constable responded in a statement saying they know they have 'some employees' who 'do not uphold the standards of behaviour' they expect and added that they are 'proactively identifying' these staff and 'using all the powers available to make sure they leave GMP's employment.'
He added that they were grateful for the help and advice from the panel, and other community groups, outlining the aim to 'become an organisation that everyone can have trust and confidence in -irrespective of background, race or belief'.
'The relationship is broken'
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